Ta'amu, a Hawaii native, went 7-of-11 passing for 78 yards and rushed for 20 more in the 40-24 loss to the Tigers. He led Ole Miss (3-4, 1-3 SEC) to two scoring drives and offensive coordinator Phil Longo said he called some fundamental plays for him.

But this week against the Razorbacks (2-5, 0-4) ...

"Now it's a different animal. He's got to put the whole game plan in his mind," Longo said. "We're going to formulate the game plan with the idea we have our backup quarterback starting on Saturday. So we're going to do some things to help him think quick and make some plays. He knows the system. Athletically, he's very capable. We just got to get him to translate what he knows to game speed on Saturday."

His urgency in the pocket was something that the coaches wanted to see improve though. And there's a natural adjustment period when jumping from a junior college to the SEC.

Matt Luke said he liked what he saw from Ta'amu in the pocket Saturday.

"As an offensive line coach, you always want to get rid of the ball fast. You don't want a guy back there holding the ball, patting the ball," Luke said. "That was one of the things I saw in the game he wasn't doing. I was really pleased with that because the game does speed up and you've got to make fast decisions.

"If there was one thing he really needed to work on, that was it. And I thought he did a nice job of that when he had his opportunity."

"Just as far throwing the ball, I think there's some rust he'll have to shake off," Luke said. "I think he's been in a game before, he had some packages last year ... he does have some experience and I think that will help him."

Pellerin was mostly used as a short-yardage running option last season and was brought in for goal-line situations. He completed 11 of 22 passes for 104 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions last season.

What's next for Patterson?

It remains unclear if Patterson will have surgery on his right knee.

"It's probably going to be immobilized for two-to-three weeks," Luke said. "Then you take another picture of it and see where it is at that point and make a decision (on surgery)."

Luke said he wasn't sure what the recovery timetable was but said it might be around three-to-four months.

Patterson finishes the season with 2,259 yards passing, 17 touchdown passes and nine interceptions to go with a 63.8 completion percentage.

Through six games, he was on pace to challenge Tim Couch's SEC single-season passing yardage record.

Notes

Center Sean Rawlings is in concussion protocol, Luke said. They''ll know by Wednesday if he'll play against Arkansas.

Running back Jordan Wilkins injured his ankle against LSU. Luke said they'll find out by Thursday if he'll be available this weekend.

Contact Antonio Morales at 601-961-7117 or amorales2@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter.